TUI refunds thread

frugalfran

Sorry - amidst all this stuff I may have unwittingly misled everyone - the money was not (as I wrote) in my bank account, but refunded to my credit card - which I guess accounts for the above comments.  As a by-the-by, I had tried TUI's online form (see a previous post) and it had not recognised the booking number so I had no alternative but to phone.  I, too, was amazed to get through - I almost rang off when they said the wait time was an hour, but the TUI person said the number of calls had fallen substantially since the online form went up and now that they had the ability to process refunds (at least to CC, I'm not sure about DD tho) life was much more pleasant both for them and customers.

bradders1983

TUI website updated, no surprise to see all holidays up to and including 30th June have now bitten the dust.

SevenOfNine

frugalfran said:

Sorry - amidst all this stuff I may have unwittingly misled everyone - the money was not (as I wrote) in my bank account, but refunded to my credit card - which I guess accounts for the above comments.  As a by-the-by, I had tried TUI's online form (see a previous post) and it had not recognised the booking number so I had no alternative but to phone.  I, too, was amazed to get through - I almost rang off when they said the wait time was an hour, but the TUI person said the number of calls had fallen substantially since the online form went up and now that they had the ability to process refunds (at least to CC, I'm not sure about DD tho) life was much more pleasant both for them and customers.

That should make life easier for those who have no intention of waiting 4 weeks for the issue of an unsolicited RCN, followed by another 4 weeks (& longer if alternative methods of payment used) for a ££££ refund. But will 'phone as soon as their trip is cancelled by TUI & tell them to comply with the legislation of "refund within 14 days" (though one should allow a bit of flexibility to the timescale, just not necessarily whatever time TUI feels like choosing). The RCNs have still not been confirmed by CAA or the Government as being fully protected, words such as "might, maybe, possibly, probably" still bandied about, instead of "DEFINITELY"!
Consumer groups advise using every avenue of communication (emails, facebook/twitter messages), even though it will illicit no response, to log your rejection of the issue of an unsolicited RCN, even if you don't actually mind waiting for it to arrive so you can apply on-line for the refund - just so you don't catch a cold holding it with the "definitely" word never coming & the sh !t hitting the fan.

bobblebob

So what do you do if youe holiday is cancelled but cant get through on the phone/dont have the time to wait hours in queues? Do you just wait for them to contact me? Will they?

RalphWiggam

Exactly my problem.  Been waiting 11 weeks now for my refund.  I cannot get through on the phones, I have been trying, emails are either not answered or returned undeliverable.   I contacted my bank, they are trying to raise a dispute to see if they have any joy. 

bradders1983

Taking some 11 weeks, took me 20 minutes. How many times are you actually trying? 🤔

bobblebob

I got through, told i would be called back same day after they looked into my booking, following day at latest. This was on Weds and nothing so far

RalphWiggam

I am trying to ring every day but the line is ALWAYS engaged, I never even got to get on hold!    According to Tui's website, direct debit refunds would be paid by 1st June, guess what?  No refund.  They just keep changing the dates, there have been about 3 different dates now.  I am getting really fed up now.  My bank told me to leave all communication to them as they have raised a dispute but I have not heard anything from them either.  I am thinking the only way forward will be a small claims court claim. 

khigginson1991

Can someone point me in the right direction... TUI refund credit, how/where will I find details on how to swap my cancellation voucher code for a cash refund? I am going round in circles on the website. Thanks 

skadupuk

skadupuk said:

So, I have managed to arrange refunds for 2 holidays (without waiting for the refund credit notes), there was no attempt to avoid the refund or sell me on the refund credit note etc. they were processed quickly without fuss.

Getting through is a case of constantly redialling for as long as it takes, reentering the numbers on the menu (when you get through, sometimes you get kicked out so keep redialling) and eventually you'll get into the queue (when the TUI music plays), it's going to take a long time and a lot of redials but you will get in eventually.
 
Through the conversations I have had I now have a better idea of why things are all over the shop, and this should explain a few of the mixed experiences of refund timescales:
 
1. The phone teams can only refund card payments, and only where the card used is still valid (i.e. not expired), these refunds are pretty quick (2 days for the card element of one of my holidays)

2. The only people that can action the following payments are the Finance team:
Direct debit Payments 
Card payments where the card has expired
Paypal payments

This is where the bottleneck is, likely due to staff numbers, system access when working from home (data security etc.) and that each transaction is likely more lengthy than the "click button" card refund.

This workload is likely why you won't get timescales out of TUI on outstanding refunds as they just don't know how long it will take to clear this queue of work.

Update:
At the 28 day mark (which is where I should get the rest of my refund per the TUI timescales on the website, as requested after 1st May and part is direct debit and the other an expired card)

Received a mail today advising they have processed one of the two payments outstanding (expired card) leaving just the direct debits to go, on social media they have been advising where multiple payment methods were used that this does mean a slight extra delay as they can only do one at a time, hopefully I will have all (or confirmation of all) by the end of the week.